18 December 2011

I got an amazing compliment today, and so I am going to share it, because EVERYONE should know how AWESOME I AM I'm really proud of it, and it inspired this post.

[my name] you are my idea of the way people of faith should be. You don't flaunt it or judge others. You are compassionate and kind. If all religious people were like you, I would be more inclined to embrace it.

Wow. Why don't you nominate me for "mother of the year" while you're at it? My ego is going to coast on this for a while.

So now my brain is whirring. Okay, it's usually whirring, but that's white noise. This is going somewhere. I think. We'll see. I'm wondering what a person of faith should be? I mean, we're called to spread the word. But how? And what word? That God is good? That Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Light? That only straight people who pray to the right God are going to heaven, so get with the program? That you can be as much of an asshole as you like as long as you believe in Jesus you're good?

So obviously I'm not on board with most of that. I'm pretty much only okay with the first part. God is Good. (The Way, the Truth, and the Light? I dunno. I have a hard time with that one. How about "a Way, a Truth, a Light"? I'd really like to see the original! Oh well, it doesn't really matter what I believe.) And how do I go about showing that to people? Well, Jesus was pretty clear. Love thy neighbour. Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. Oh, and he wasn't kidding about that last part, I don't think. I'm pretty sure he meant we're all divine in our own way. We all have a spark of the divine. We are all wonderful if we choose to be. Treat someone poorly, and it's not like you're treating God that way, you are treating God that way, because everyone is of God. Yeah, I'm rambling again. I have a hard time pulling all my thoughts about the topic together coherently. You should see the looks on the Mormon missionaries' faces when I start going on. Hehehe. I love inviting them in and then debating this stuff.

I'm really tired of people using God as a weapon. Do this or you'll go to hell! Be this way or burn for eternity! Puhleeze. First off, only God gets to judge. So quit it. I know some of the rules are laid out clearly, but you don't know what's in that person's heart. And you don't have God's grace. So quit it. You're told to love everyone. That means EVERYONE. No matter what. So fucking quit it with the judgmental b.s. If you want people to see that God is good, show them. Don't go on about how nasty they are and how God hates them or hates what they're doing. Just be a decent human being.

tl;dr: Don't be a douchebag.

p.s. I'll bet the farm that God doesn't give a shit about football. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'll bet it all on that one.

01 December 2011

It seems to me that many First Nations treat their lands in a way similar to the way some Christians treat their churches. As holy, sacred, and precious. Try telling a church member that the church is “only a building”. Then tell them to imagine that all of their ancestors for as long as anyone can remember went to that church. Now imagine someone coming in and telling them they can only use one pew. One with an obstructed view, that gets feedback from the speakers. And then, after all that, tell them that if they have a problem with that, it’s their fault. They could have gone to that synagogue down the street years ago.

That's how "Why don't they move?" strikes me.

If you think I'm exaggerating about how some churches treat their buildings and the stuff in them, consider that at one church I attended, there was a HUGE fight about the removal of 4 pews from the sanctuary. When those pews were sold, there were actually people who cried. 4 pews. Out of a few dozen. And hymnals that are 50 years old, no one wants them, and they're falling apart and attracting silverfish? Don't even suggest that they should be recycled! All hell breaks loose.

Bear with me. I'm sick. My kids are sick. And Crackle just had a seizure from hell.

I'm watching the Attawapiskat story closely. I'm trying not to read comments, as they just piss me the fuck off. The best takedown of the whole situation is here.

A few points I feel like stressing:
1) The only way to get Harperco to act like they give a shit about you is to get other people to embarrass them - i.e. They refused to do anything until the Red Cross said they would.
2) Embarrassing Harperco will result in your punishment. They slapped down the Atiwapiskat community hard by putting it under someone else's control.
3) Harperco, and the Liberal shitheads before them, believe that throwing money at a situation fixes everything. And if it doesn't, it's because someone is stealing it. Funny how they'd jump to that conclusion. Says something about what they would do with money thrown at them. Like our tax money. Steal it, mismanage it, spend it on themselves. Pretty much what they're accusing the aboriginal leaders of.

4) This is the big one. In the article at the link above, the writer says,

Shockingly, the federal government does not always have clear program objectives, nor does it necessarily specify specific roles and responsibilities for program delivery, and has not established measures for evaluating performance in order to determine if outcome are actually met.

What!?

That’s right. The federal government is not keeping track of what it does, how it does it, or whether what it is doing works. The Auditor General recommends the federal government fix this, pronto. How can a community rely on these services if the federal government itself isn’t even clear on what it is providing and whether the programs are working?

That's right. And that's the problem with Autism funding at the provincial level too. They throw money at us, dictate how we can spend it, and on whom, and then don't keep track of what they do, how they do it, or whether what it is doing works.

How can a community rely on these services if the [federal] government itself isn’t even clear on what it is providing and whether the programs are working?

Feedjit

About Me

I'm a loud, opinionated, stay-at-home Mom of three awesome minions - Snap, Crackle and Pop. I've got entirely too much education, complete with entirely too much debt. I'm open-minded to a fault - my husband says my open-mindedness is bound to get me in trouble. I'm a feminist, a Christian, a socialist, though not necessarily in that order.

Blog Policies

Pretty simple one: My blog, my prerogative.Sexist, racist, or homophobic crap will not be tolerated. Comments I find annoying will be deleted should I feel the urge. Do not expect this to be fair, rational, or logical. Deal with it.